Understanding Condensate Pumps on a Steam Distribution System

Diagram of industrial steam system
(courtesy of Watson McDaniel)

A condensate pump is a type of pump used to pump the condensate (water) produced in an industrial steam system. The primary application for the condensate pump is pumping condensate from a process application or condensate collection area back to the condensate return system.

In certain cases, the steam pressure of the system may be sufficient to push the condensate through the steam traps and condensate return lines, back to the condensate holding tank in the boiler room. In most practical situations, however, one or more condensate return pumps are required to assist in overcoming gravity, pressure drops from long piping runs, and back pressures in return lines.

Condensate Return Pumps are either electrically-driven centrifugal pumps or non-electric mechanical pumps that use steam pressure as the motive force to pump the condensate. Non-electric pumps are referred to as Pressure Motive Pumps (PMPs).

A facility will often have a separate area that contains various components required for the generation of steam, such as a boiler, condensate holding or deaerator (DA) tank, boiler feed pump, water treatment, etc. Regulated by the boiler control system, the boiler feed pump sends condensate from the holding tank back to the boiler.

Pressure Motive Pumps (PMPs) are non-electric pumps which return condensate back to the boiler room; using steam pressure as the motive force. PMPs can be supplied as stand-alone units – which include a pump tank, the internal operating mechanism, and a set of inlet and outlet check valves, or: as a packaged system – which also includes the vented receiver tank (to collect the condensate) mounted on a common base.

The following is a comprehensive document, courtesy of Watson McDaniel, that provides a good general understanding of steam and condensate systems, traps and condensate pumps. 

Understanding Condensate Pumps on a Steam Distribution System from Ives Equipment

For more information, contact:

Ives Equipment
www.ivesequipment.com
(877) 768-1600

Coriolis Flow Sensor with 15 RA/230 Grit for Sanitary Applications

Sanitary Coriolis flow sensor
with 15 RA / 230 Grit finish
on wetted parts.
(Courtesy of Siemens)

In sanitary applications, the finish and the material must be designed for easy and reliable cleaning and sanitation. For decades agencies have required sanitary finishes to comply to minimum standards. But now, many food, Biotech, and Pharma companies are going beyond the minimum regulations and providing high-end finishes because of the reduced sanitation time and reduced bacteria growth these finishes facilitate.

Sanitary applications mandate that stainless steel equipment have a sanitary finish. In very general terms, “sanitary finish” means a smooth, scratch-free, non-corrosive finish. But it’s much more than that. To qualify the finish more accurately, there are two primary terms used:

Roughness Average, or RA: A standard for an average of the peaks and valleys of the metal’s surface, measured in microinches or micrometers. The lower the RA, the smoother the finish.

Grit: The size of the abrasive used in the metal polishing process. Higher grit numbers are associated with higher polishing.

For process control equipment manufacturers, achieving higher-end finishes is not an easy proposition. Providing better finishes requires experience and controlled processes for quality fabrication, as well as possible tooling and production floor changes. Working inside sanitary requirements requires careful handling to prevent contamination from the manufacturing environment. Not all process instrument manufacturers are capable of providing the required environment.

A Coriolis Flowmeter with 15 RA/230 Grit for Biotech and Pharma

Siemens is currently offering a 15 RA/230 Grit surface finish for the FCS400 Coriolis flow sensor internal wetted-tube parts as a special, and will soon be offering it as a standard.

A Coriolis sensor, with such a high end finish, is very attractive to many "clean" industries including chromatography, blood plasma fractioning, chemical synthesis phases, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) extraction/fermentation and purification, formulation, and  purified API.

Biotech and Pharma manufacturers, in particular, are poised to take advantage of the enhanced 15 RA/230 Grit finish coupled with the inherent benefits of the FCS400 Coriolis flow sensor, namely:

1. Accurate measurement across the entire range
2. Zero internal fabrication joints and self-draining design
3. All metal surfaces eliminate risks from particulates from the breakdown of synthetic materials
4. No internal fluids to leak into the process
5. A direct mass flow rate/ and total

For more information, contact:

Ives Equipment

www.ivesequipment.com
(877) 768-1600

Next Generation Tail Gas Analyzer

On-Line Process Analytics is a young industry. Now going into the 3rd generation, the paper below covers topics related to the specification, use and long term ownership of SRU process gas analyzers.

Claus Sulfur Recovery Tail Gas Applying 100 Million Hours of Operational Time to the Next Generation Analyzer from Ives Equipment

AMETEK Process Instruments has been the leader in tail gas analysis for over 40 years-with more than 1,100 installed model 880 NSL analyzers and more than 100 million hours of run time. The Model 888, the successor of the 880 NSL uses field-proven and highly reliable UV technology to accurately monitor the H2S and SO2 concentrations in sulfur recovery tail gas. This compact, rugged analyzer mounts directly on the process pipe, eliminating the complexity and safety issues of fiber optic coupled photometers.

The Model 888 is the evolution of a well proven formula. All the best elements of the iconic 880 NSL are still there; Four year lamp life, no shelter required and steam blow back for ammonia salts.

Major Water Savings in Dairy Operations White Paper

Alfa Laval describes a better way to clean double-seat mixproof valves and reduce water and CIP liquid consumption even further. This involves quick and repetitive opening and closing of the seat, rather than exposing valve surfaces to CIP liquid ow for a given duration of time. This discovery was made at one of Alfa Laval’s process facilities. Alfa Laval engineers observed that, during the first fractions of a second of a cleaning cycle, the ow of CIP liquid created a high level of shear stress on the valve surfaces used less water than traditional seat lift and seat push cleaning, and increased overall cleaning efficiency. 

Read more, or download the white paper below.

Dairy Water Savings White Paper from Ives Equipment

Composite Solenoid Valves for Reverse Osmosis Water Systems

Typical reverse osmosis system
(courtesy of Wikipedia)

Reverse osmosis (RO) is one of the most popular methods for effective water purification. It has been used for years to purify contaminated water, including converting brackish or seawater to drinking water.

Reverse osmosis is a process in which dissolved inorganic solids (such as salts) are removed from a solution (such as water). This is accomplished by pushing the water through a semi permeable membrane, which allows only the water to pass, but not the impurities or contaminates.

Reverse Osmosis can deliver bottled-water quality safety and taste by removing over 99% of dissolved minerals, chlorine and contaminants. Many leading bottled-water companies actually use large-scale RO to produce their water.

Reverse osmosis systems are found in several drinking water applications from restaurant, food and beverage equipment to grocery store produce misting.

The ASCO Series 212 solenoid valve is designed for these type systems. The valves come with NSF approvals for use in drinking water systems and also is design with unique “FasN” quick connection system. The valves are designed to handle 150 psi up to 180 deg. F. and has low wattage coils in both AC and DC.

See the video below for an illustration of where these valves are used in RO systems.

Siemens SITRANS LUT400 Pump Level Assist Routines

Siemens SITRANS LUT400

The Siemens SITRANS LUT400 series controllers are compact, single point, long-range ultrasonic controllers for continuous level, or volume measurement of liquids, slurries, and solids, and high accuracy monitoring of open channel flow.

The preconfigured pump routines in the SITRANS LUT 400 allow you to choose the best pump control scenario for your application. In the video below, you will see how the assist pump routines work.

The SITRANS LUT 400 has three assists pump routines available:

• Alternate duty assist
• Service ratio duty assist
• Fixed duty assist

The fixed duty assist routine mainly uses one pump to control the liquid level. In this example, pump 1 will always start before pump 2. When the liquid level reaches the pump 1 “on” set point, pump one will turn on. If the liquid level continues to rise while pump one is running, then pump 2 will start. Pump 2 will assist pump 1 to lower the liquid level. Both pumps we'll turn off when the liquid level reaches the “off” set point. This pump sequence is fixed. Pump 1 will always start first, then if necessary, pump 2 will assist pump 1.

The alternate duty assist routine rotates between both pumps to control the liquid level. Pump 1 will start first. If it cannot keep up with the inflow, then pump 2 will turn on and assist pump 1. Both pumps will run until the liquid level reaches the pump “off” set point. On the next cycle, pump 2 will be the first pump to start. Pump 1 will assist pump 2 if it is necessary. The starting pump will continue to alternate between pump 1 and pump 2 after each filling cycle.

The service ratio duty assist routine rotates between both pumps based on the defined service ratio. In this example the service ratio is split equally between both pumps. The SITRANS LUT will choose which pump starts first based on this ratio. Since pump 1 has the lowest runtime hours it starts first. Pump 2 will assist pump 1 if the level continues to increase.  On the next cycle, pump 2 to will start first. Pump 1 will assist pump 2 if necessary. The service duty ratio assist routine will continue to maintain the runtime ratio for each filling cycle.

The Basics of Continuous Emissions Monitoring (CES)

Continuous emission monitoring system
(courtesy of AMETEK Process Instruments)

Continuous emission monitoring systems, known as CEMs, are used by plants and facilities to assure compliance with the EPA’s requirement to limit the amount of certain gasses (such as CO2) into the air. A CEM samples, measures, collects data, records and reports the gas emissions information. CEM systems can also measure and report gas flow, gas opacity and moisture content.

CEMs are typically used to monitor flue gas emissions (the gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue from an furnace, oven, or boiler).

CEM system are made up of a sampling probe, a filter, a sampling line, a means to condition the gas being sampled, a gas used for calibration, and a group of gas analyzers geared toward the gases being monitored.

The most common gases measured are: carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, airborne particulate, sulfur dioxide, volatile organics, mercury, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen chloride, and oxygen.

Continuous emission monitoring systems operate by extracting a small diluted gas sample into the CEM via a sampling probe. The sample is diluted with air because of the hot, wet, and contaminant carrying nature of the stack gas. Once the sample gas is taken, the concentration of its components are calculated through a variety of technologies such as infrared and ultraviolet adsorption, chemiluminescence, fluorescence and beta ray absorption. After analysis, the sample gas exits the analyzer and is usually vented outdoors.

Another method of extracting a sample gas is called "hot dry" extraction or "direct CEMs". In this situation, the sample gas is not diluted with air, but instead the pure sample is carried through a heated line at high temperatures, filtered to remove contaminants, and dried to remove moisture. This method is preferred when O2 measurement is required because there is no additional oxygen being introduced via the air dilution as described in the above method.

The EPA requires a data acquisition and handling system to collect and report the data, so the CEM must operate continually and provide data on an hourly basis.

For more information about CEM systems, contact:

Ives Equipment Corporation
www.ivesequipment.com
(877) 768-1600